Google Drive Launched With 5GB Free Storage

Rumors concerning Google Drive have been circulating since quite some time now and by now most people were not even regarding these as rumors anymore, despite Google’s insistence otherwise. Earlier, a Google spokeswoman said the company does not comment on rumor or speculation when asked about Google Drive. It turns out that it wasn’t mere speculation after all, as Google Drive has just been launched after all.

Google Drive has been launched with 5GB of free cloud storage and with feature that allows users to work with others in real time on documents, spreadsheets and presentations; Google Drive incorporates the Google Docs.

Here’s a list of features that Google Drive has to offer:

• Google Docs has been replaced by Google Drive. The service comes with the ability to create new documents, presentations, and spreadsheets instantly. You can allow others to access these documents and watch changes in real-time.
• Bulky attachments can now be replaced with Google Drive links, giving access to the same file easily.
• Pictures and videos uploaded to Google Drive are instantly available on Google+. Sharing with your circles is just one click away.
• Powerful search options allow you to look up content by keywords or filter on file type or owners. The best feature of this search option is the ability to recognize objects in images and text from scanned documents.
• Over 30 file types are supported, giving you the ability to view files from Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator, and HD video, to name a few, even without the relevant software installed on your desktop.
• Google Drive features app support, allowing you to create, open, and share files from a variety of apps directly.
• Multiple settings options allows you to share documents with everyone while specifying whether they would be able to edit or comment on the file, or just view it.
• Tracks every change made, i.e. every time you save a document, a new revision is saved. You can view these revisions from as far as 30 days back.

Whereas the initial 5GB are completely free, Google offers an upgrade to 25GB for $2.49/month, 100GB for $4.99/month or even 1TB for $49.99/month.

The launch of Google Drive will up the competition in the cloud storage market. Obviously, this will have some sort of affect on existing popular services like Dropbox and Box, and even Microsoft’s SkyDrive and Apple’s iCloud. Perhaps this is the reason that ahead of the expected and much speculated about Google Drive launch, both Dropbox and Microsoft’s SkyDrive have had their services polished. Cloud storage powerhouse, Dropbox redesigned its website and interface and also released a powerful tool the other day that would allow users to share links instead of entire folders, making the whole process even more easier. SkyDrive has added a new remote PC access service, new storage options, the ability to (finally) access the service via both iOS and Windows Phones and has changed the storage to 7 GB for new users (dropping it from 25 GB).

Chrome Apps that work with Google Drive
Google Drive App for Android in the Google Play App Store
Google Drive for the web.